Saturday, October 01, 2005

Things to do-A wishlist

I have maintained 100% attendance (almost) in my lectures.Physical presence of course,80% of presence in person in required.Thankfully there is no monitoring on the mental side,the 100% would instantaneously recede to 30% if that is done.Anyway the time has come to reap this very hard work that has been done.I am bunking a week to go home for Durga Puja,DP as we lovingly call it.What DP means to me,I have already explained in my hometown community blog here.I hope I can relive some old moments again.

Almost everytime I go there,there are people who ask me what have I done here.Have I met any filmstars,seen any dancebars,seen any gansgsters in action,held hands at beautiful beach sunsets and the usual typical Mumbai associations.I am speechless at such moments.I try and explain that my priority order is entirely different,being the boring sort of person I usually am.But they still don't believe when I deny,sometimes embarrassingly so,everyone one of their enthusiastic queries.

My priority order is somewhat different.I would love to do these things before I leave Mumbai for the final time:

Watch the finale of an exciting Test match at Wankhede.I almost did that when Australia visited India last time.But Bhajji ruined the moment by finishing the test match the third day itself,when we had found time to go on the fourth.A day night one-day match would also be nice enough.I have already seen quite a few ODI's at Jamshedpur,but I guess the experience would be different here.India has lost every match I have seen at Keenan,the only one it won was against SA and I had my physics ICSE exam that day :(.How different that time was can be judged by the fact that Gnaguly had scored a cebtury,got the man of the match,and a promotion right there becuase his boss J.J Irani had been watching this performance.Ganguly being employed in Jamshedpur's vey own TISCO.Watching a match is an experience in itself.Infact my brother on my visit here insisted that we go and watch a Kanga league match at Azad Maidan,relaxing and eating Vada Paw.So idyllic,just like cricket.

Watch a derby at Mahalakshmi.I have seen too many movies,read too many stories and heard too many tales involving horse races.My favorite mentions being in D.H Lawrence's story A Rocking Horse Winner and Varun's adventures in Seth's A Suitable Boy.I have heard live broadcasts of Ascot,Grand National,Kentucky Derby on BBC radio and watched them live when it came on TV.The tradition,the fashion and most importantly the thrill of making a punt on a horse,cheering it to the finish,never mind winning or losing,are what attract me to that place.

Watch a rugby match at Bombay Gymkhana.I missed watching India beat Kazakshtan because everyone laughed at me when I asked them to accompany me.Travelling 40 mins in a Mumbai local train alone is horrid,but I still can't forgive myself for not going.I've been watching rugby since I saw the then most watched Wallabies vs. All Blacks match at MCG on TV.That was '97.I got hold of the rules,and have followed it ever since,right from Eales lifting the World Cup in '99 to Johnny Wilkinson mania in '03,I have seen the moments.In fact on of my dreams is to start a rugby club in IIT and maybe include it in Inter-IIT.The few sports shops I have visited to fulfill my sporting needs,none had a rugby ball,otherwise things could have started.I may not have the physiques,but enthusiasm will make up for that.Visit an art gallery,Jehangir art gallery if I am not mistaken.I never have had a taste in art.There was a class devoted to the various forms of art and their evolution in the Lit. classes but it failed to create a spark.Maybe sport and art don't go together (although Jack Russel proves they can),but maybe a visit to the art gallery would change all that.

Watch a play at the Prithvi theater.Another thing that fails to generate any interest is drama and movies.The overacting and pathetic humor of most Hindi movies don't help either.Infact whenever I feel like watching a movie I watch my favorite movies,already seen many times,in parts.So I end up watching Apocalypse Now's final scene and Monty Python series almost everytime.I would like to generate some ineterest though,maybe theater would help.I have heard so much about Prithvi,so none better than that.

Listen to a classical quartet or symphony or orchestra.Ever since I read An Equal Music,I have been trying to get my self acquainted with this side of music.I had the perception that classical music is for filthy rich people with Steinbacks in their drawing halls and hired tutors to teach their little rich daghters how to play it.Or people who try and be pretentious about their 'high' taste in music.But when I listened to Lark Ascending by Vaughan,I somehow felt that it was far far beyond that.I have always liked Ride of the Valkyries and the way it used in Apocalypse but I thought that classical music at best is used in movie background scores.I am still to listen to the Art of Fugue which is the central piece of that Seth book,but I get an idea now.

Trek the Sahyadris as much as I can.Maybe the thing I'll miss the most,even though I'm not a regular trekker.I would like to discover all that the amazing Sahyadris have to offer.Don't know if I ever get to that again.

Visit the Asiatic Society Library.The structure of the library is breathtakingly beautiful and imposing.The fact that they have books inside makes it even more attractive.The heritage and history just add to the incredible aura.I would like to go in someday,someday pretty soon.

Finding company for the cricket and trekking bit wouldn't be difficult.It's the rest of them where I don't want to be the lone one to go.